The race was affected by miserable weather, with gusty winds and freezing rain from start to finish. The dramatic state of the roads contributed to the harshness of the race, causing several punctures and mechanical failures.[2]

1.
Finale Ligure
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Finale Ligure is a comune on the Gulf of Genoa in the Province of Savona in Liguria, Italy. It is considered part of the Italian Riviera, the town has a lively commercial district. The boardwalk is lined with trees and many restaurants from the adjacent street have located large. The town of Finale Ligure is nominally divided into three boroughs, Finale Ligure Marina is the main seaside part of the town, most frequented by tourists, while Finale Pia is the traditional center of the town, where a Benedictine abbey still stands. Finalborgo, the borough and located further inland, consists of an old walled medieval town built at the joncion of two streams, Aquila and Pora. Caves attesting the presence of settlements in the area as early as the Neolithic age have been found. During the Roman times, the burgh of Finale was known as Ad Fines, in Roman times the area hosted a road and post station named Pollupex along the via Julia Augusta, it is supposed that it was situated where nowadays the frazione of Calvisio stands. Important was in those times also the port of Varicottis, now interred, as were the fortifications in Perti, later integrated in the Byzantine limes against the Ostrogoths and Lombards. The first document citing the town is from 967, when it was included in the Marca Aleramica created by Emperor Otto I, in 1496 Alfonso I Del Carretto obtained the investiture of the whole marquisate by Emperor Maximilian I, later confirmed by Charles V. In 1558, however, the misgovernment of Alfonso II Del Carretto created attrition with the population, with the encroachment of Genoa, the Spanish governor of Milan therefore occupied Finale in 1571, and the town passed under the Spanish rule in 1602. The Marquisate was acquired by the Republic of Genoa in 1713, the town became part of the Kingdom of Sardinia in 1815 and of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861. At that time the Finale area was divided in several small Comuni, Finalborgo, Finalmarina, Finalpia, Gorra, Perti, Calvisio, between 1869 and 1877, a time of administrative reforms, only the three Finales survived after swallowing their smaller neighbors amidst recriminations. It was the Fascist regime, bent on creating wider Comuni, castel Gavone, the former seat of the Del Carretto Marquesses. It was allegedly built by the Enrico II Del Carretto in 1181, destroyed during the struggles with Genoa, it was rebuilt in 1451–52. In 1715 it was dismantled by the Genoese after their conquest of the Marquisate. Castel San Giovanni, a 17th-century Spanish fort just above the old walled town, castello Vuillermin, a castle dating from the early 20th century which is now converted into a youth hostel. It sits on the mountains directly above the town, basilica of St. John the Baptist, with two bell tower from 1762. Church of Santa Maria di Pia, rebuilt in 1725–28 and it houses works from the 16th century and has a 13th-century bell tower

2.
Sanremo
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Sanremo or San Remo is a city on the Mediterranean coast of western Liguria in north-western Italy. Founded in Roman times, it has a population of 57,000 and it hosts numerous cultural events, such as the Sanremo Music Festival and the Milan–San Remo cycling classic. The name of the city is a contraction of SantEremo di San Romolo, which refers to Romulus of Genoa. It is often stated in modern folk stories that Sanremo is a translation of Saint Remus, in Ligurian, his name is San Rœmu. The spelling San Remo is on all ancient maps of Liguria, the ancient Republic of Genoa, Italy in the Middle Ages, the Kingdom of Sardinia, and it was used in 1924 in official documents under Mussolini. This form of the name appears still on road signs and, more rarely. It has been the most widely used form of the name in English at least since the 19th century, once the Roman settlement of Matutia or Villa Matutiana, Sanremo expanded in the Early Middle Ages when the population moved to the high grounds. The nobility built a castle and the village of La Pigna to protect the town from Saracen raids. At first subjected to the countship of Ventimiglia, the community later passed under the dominion of the Genoese bishops, in 1297 they sold it to the Doria and De Mari families. It became a town in the second half of the 15th century, after which it expanded to the Pigna hill. The almost perfectly preserved old village remains, Sanremo remained independent from Genoese Republic. In 1753, after 20 years of conflicts, it rose against Genoese hegemonical attempts. At that time the latter polity built the fortress of Santa Tecla, the fortress was used as a prison until 2002. It is now being transformed into a museum, after the French domination and the Savoy restoration in 1814, Sanremo was annexed to the Kingdom of Sardinia. From the middle of the 18th century the town grew rapidly, in due to the development of tourism, which saw the first grand hotels built. The Empress Sissi of Austria, Empress Maria Alexandrovna of Russia, the most notable of these was the British Mandate of Palestine. Sanremo is the home of International Institute of Humanitarian Law, the most notable institute in courses about refugees, sanremos Mediterranean climate and attractive seacoast setting on the Italian Riviera make it a popular tourist destination. Besides tourism, the city is active in the production of extra virgin-grade olive oil and it is one of the agricultural commodities in western Liguria and in particular within the province of Imperia

3.
Paris
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Paris is the capital and most populous city of France. It has an area of 105 square kilometres and a population of 2,229,621 in 2013 within its administrative limits, the agglomeration has grown well beyond the citys administrative limits. By the 17th century, Paris was one of Europes major centres of finance, commerce, fashion, science, and the arts, and it retains that position still today. The aire urbaine de Paris, a measure of area, spans most of the Île-de-France region and has a population of 12,405,426. It is therefore the second largest metropolitan area in the European Union after London, the Metropole of Grand Paris was created in 2016, combining the commune and its nearest suburbs into a single area for economic and environmental co-operation. Grand Paris covers 814 square kilometres and has a population of 7 million persons, the Paris Region had a GDP of €624 billion in 2012, accounting for 30.0 percent of the GDP of France and ranking it as one of the wealthiest regions in Europe. The city is also a rail, highway, and air-transport hub served by two international airports, Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Orly. Opened in 1900, the subway system, the Paris Métro. It is the second busiest metro system in Europe after Moscow Metro, notably, Paris Gare du Nord is the busiest railway station in the world outside of Japan, with 262 millions passengers in 2015. In 2015, Paris received 22.2 million visitors, making it one of the top tourist destinations. The association football club Paris Saint-Germain and the rugby union club Stade Français are based in Paris, the 80, 000-seat Stade de France, built for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, is located just north of Paris in the neighbouring commune of Saint-Denis. Paris hosts the annual French Open Grand Slam tennis tournament on the red clay of Roland Garros, Paris hosted the 1900 and 1924 Summer Olympics and is bidding to host the 2024 Summer Olympics. The name Paris is derived from its inhabitants, the Celtic Parisii tribe. Thus, though written the same, the name is not related to the Paris of Greek mythology. In the 1860s, the boulevards and streets of Paris were illuminated by 56,000 gas lamps, since the late 19th century, Paris has also been known as Panam in French slang. Inhabitants are known in English as Parisians and in French as Parisiens and they are also pejoratively called Parigots. The Parisii, a sub-tribe of the Celtic Senones, inhabited the Paris area from around the middle of the 3rd century BC. One of the areas major north-south trade routes crossed the Seine on the île de la Cité, this place of land and water trade routes gradually became a town

4.
Belgium
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Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a sovereign state in Western Europe bordered by France, the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg, and the North Sea. It is a small, densely populated country which covers an area of 30,528 square kilometres and has a population of about 11 million people. Additionally, there is a group of German-speakers who live in the East Cantons located around the High Fens area. Historically, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg were known as the Low Countries, the region was called Belgica in Latin, after the Roman province of Gallia Belgica. From the end of the Middle Ages until the 17th century, today, Belgium is a federal constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. It is divided into three regions and three communities, that exist next to each other and its two largest regions are the Dutch-speaking region of Flanders in the north and the French-speaking southern region of Wallonia. The Brussels-Capital Region is a bilingual enclave within the Flemish Region. A German-speaking Community exists in eastern Wallonia, Belgiums linguistic diversity and related political conflicts are reflected in its political history and complex system of governance, made up of six different governments. Upon its independence, declared in 1830, Belgium participated in the Industrial Revolution and, during the course of the 20th century, possessed a number of colonies in Africa. This continuing antagonism has led to several far-reaching reforms, resulting in a transition from a unitary to a federal arrangement during the period from 1970 to 1993. Belgium is also a member of the Eurozone, NATO, OECD and WTO. Its capital, Brussels, hosts several of the EUs official seats as well as the headquarters of major international organizations such as NATO. Belgium is also a part of the Schengen Area, Belgium is a developed country, with an advanced high-income economy and is categorized as very high in the Human Development Index. A gradual immigration by Germanic Frankish tribes during the 5th century brought the area under the rule of the Merovingian kings, a gradual shift of power during the 8th century led the kingdom of the Franks to evolve into the Carolingian Empire. Many of these fiefdoms were united in the Burgundian Netherlands of the 14th and 15th centuries, the Eighty Years War divided the Low Countries into the northern United Provinces and the Southern Netherlands. The latter were ruled successively by the Spanish and the Austrian Habsburgs and this was the theatre of most Franco-Spanish and Franco-Austrian wars during the 17th and 18th centuries. The reunification of the Low Countries as the United Kingdom of the Netherlands occurred at the dissolution of the First French Empire in 1815, although the franchise was initially restricted, universal suffrage for men was introduced after the general strike of 1893 and for women in 1949. The main political parties of the 19th century were the Catholic Party, French was originally the single official language adopted by the nobility and the bourgeoisie

5.
Italy
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Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is referred to in Italy as lo Stivale. With 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous EU member state, the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually became a republic that conquered and assimilated other nearby civilisations. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration, Italian culture flourished at this time, producing famous scholars, artists and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. The weakened sovereigns soon fell victim to conquest by European powers such as France, Spain and Austria. Despite being one of the victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil. The subsequent participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in defeat, economic destruction. Today, Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and it has a very high level of human development and is ranked sixth in the world for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, as a reflection of its cultural wealth, Italy is home to 51 World Heritage Sites, the most in the world, and is the fifth most visited country. The assumptions on the etymology of the name Italia are very numerous, according to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning land of young cattle. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name Italia to a larger region, excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period, some 200,000 years ago, modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. Other ancient Italian peoples of undetermined language families but of possible origins include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily, the Roman legacy has deeply influenced the Western civilisation, shaping most of the modern world

6.
France
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France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks

7.
Switzerland
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Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a federal republic in Europe. It consists of 26 cantons, and the city of Bern is the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in western-Central Europe, and is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland is a country geographically divided between the Alps, the Swiss Plateau and the Jura, spanning an area of 41,285 km2. The establishment of the Old Swiss Confederacy dates to the medieval period, resulting from a series of military successes against Austria. Swiss independence from the Holy Roman Empire was formally recognized in the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. The country has a history of armed neutrality going back to the Reformation, it has not been in a state of war internationally since 1815, nevertheless, it pursues an active foreign policy and is frequently involved in peace-building processes around the world. In addition to being the birthplace of the Red Cross, Switzerland is home to international organisations. On the European level, it is a member of the European Free Trade Association. However, it participates in the Schengen Area and the European Single Market through bilateral treaties, spanning the intersection of Germanic and Romance Europe, Switzerland comprises four main linguistic and cultural regions, German, French, Italian and Romansh. Due to its diversity, Switzerland is known by a variety of native names, Schweiz, Suisse, Svizzera. On coins and stamps, Latin is used instead of the four living languages, Switzerland is one of the most developed countries in the world, with the highest nominal wealth per adult and the eighth-highest per capita gross domestic product according to the IMF. Zürich and Geneva have each been ranked among the top cities in the world in terms of quality of life, with the former ranked second globally, according to Mercer. The English name Switzerland is a compound containing Switzer, a term for the Swiss. The English adjective Swiss is a loan from French Suisse, also in use since the 16th century. The name Switzer is from the Alemannic Schwiizer, in origin an inhabitant of Schwyz and its associated territory, the Swiss began to adopt the name for themselves after the Swabian War of 1499, used alongside the term for Confederates, Eidgenossen, used since the 14th century. The data code for Switzerland, CH, is derived from Latin Confoederatio Helvetica. The toponym Schwyz itself was first attested in 972, as Old High German Suittes, ultimately related to swedan ‘to burn’

8.
Passo del Turchino
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The Passo del Turchino is a mountain pass located between the cities of Masone and Mele in the Italian region Liguria. It is known for its appearance in the classic one-day cycling race Milan–San Remo. While in the days of Milan–San Remo the Turchino contributed to deciding the winner of the race. On 19 May 1944, fifty-nine civilians were murdered by Germans in a mass execution nearby, the episode is known as Strage del Turchino. This massacre was perpetrated as a following an attack from the Italian resistance when 5 German soldiers died. The climb can be accessed by three roads, with the approach from Mele the most common, though the climb from this road features some gradients topping 10%, these stretches are very brief and the average gradient is only 4%. The total distance of the climb from this road is 546 metres, starting from Voltri, the climbs average gradient is slightly higher at 4. 5%, but there are no sections higher than 7%. The 526 metres in this climb are thus realized with a steady gradient. The easiest road up the Turchino starts in Ovada, and only has sections of higher than 4% at the end of the climb. The average gradient starting from Ovada is only 1. 5%, the Passo del Turchino has been used in Milan–San Remo every year it has been held except 2001 and 2002. Originally, the climb was quite selective, as for 14 out of the first 39 editions of the race, in recent years, the climb has not proven selective. The race almost inevitably ends with a sprint or a breakaway, formed after crossing the Turchino. The Passo del Turchino has also used in the Giro dItalia, most recently in 2009

9.
Milan
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Milan is a city in Italy, capital of the Lombardy region, and the most populous metropolitan area and the second most populous comune in Italy. The population of the city proper is 1,351,000, Milan has a population of about 8,500,000 people. It is the industrial and financial centre of Italy and one of global significance. In terms of GDP, it has the largest economy among European non-capital cities, Milan is considered part of the Blue Banana and lies at the heart of one of the Four Motors for Europe. Milan is an Alpha leading global city, with strengths in the arts, commerce, design, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, services, research, and tourism. Its business district hosts Italys Stock Exchange and the headquarters of the largest national and international banks, the city is a major world fashion and design capital, well known for several international events and fairs, including Milan Fashion Week and the Milan Furniture Fair. The city hosts numerous cultural institutions, academies and universities, with 11% of the national total enrolled students, Milans museums, theatres and landmarks attract over 9 million visitors annually. Milan – after Naples – is the second Italian city with the highest number of accredited stars from the Michelin Guide, the city hosted the Universal Exposition in 1906 and 2015. Milan is home to two of Europes major football teams, A. C. Milan and F. C. Internazionale, the etymology of Milan is uncertain. One theory holds that the Latin name Mediolanum comes from the Latin words medio, however, some scholars believe lanum comes from the Celtic root lan, meaning an enclosure or demarcated territory in which Celtic communities used to build shrines. Hence, Mediolanum could signify the central town or sanctuary of a Celtic tribe, indeed, the name Mediolanum is borne by about sixty Gallo-Roman sites in France, e. g. Saintes and Évreux. Alciato credits Ambrose for his account, around 400 BC, the Celtic Insubres settled Milan and the surrounding region. In 222 BC, the Romans conquered the settlement, renaming it Mediolanum, Milan was eventually declared the capital of the Western Roman Empire by Emperor Diocletian in 286 AD. Diocletian chose to stay in the Eastern Roman Empire and his colleague Maximianus ruled the Western one, immediately Maximian built several monuments, such as a large circus 470 m ×85 m, the Thermae Herculeae, a large complex of imperial palaces and several other buildings. With the Edict of Milan of 313, Emperor Constantine I guaranteed freedom of religion for Christians, after the city was besieged by the Visigoths in 402, the imperial residence was moved to Ravenna. In 452, the Huns overran the city, in 539, the Ostrogoths conquered and destroyed Milan during the Gothic War against Byzantine Emperor Justinian I. In the summer of 569, a Teutonic tribe, the Lombards, conquered Milan, some Roman structures remained in use in Milan under Lombard rule. Milan surrendered to the Franks in 774 when Charlemagne took the title of King of the Lombards, the Iron Crown of Lombardy dates from this period

10.
Louis Trousselier
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Louis Trousselier was a French racing cyclist. He was born in Levallois-Perret, Hauts de Seine in 1881, some say on January 29. He died in Paris on April 24,1939 and he is most famous for his 1905 victory in the 1905 Tour de France. His other major wins were Paris–Roubaix, also in 1905, and he came third in the 1906 Tour de France and won 13 stages of the Tour de France over his career. He also competed in the mens 25 kilometres event at the 1900 Summer Olympics, Trousselier, known as Trou-Trou, came from a rich family which had a flower business in central Paris. For that reason, when Henri Desgrange, the first organiser of the Tour, sought to popularise competitors by giving them nicknames, trousseliers brothers Léopold and André were also cyclists. After competing in the 1900 Summer Olympics, Trousselier turned professional, in 1903, Louis Trousselier rode Bordeaux–Paris, which was his first long race. He finished in place, behind Hippolyte Aucouturier. However, a few later he was disqualified, because he had taken shelter behind a car during the race. When the newspaper that organized Bordeaux–Paris organized the first Tour de France later that year and he dominated the race winning five stages, completing the 3,021 km in 110 hours 26 minutes and 58 second at an average speed of 27.48 km. He won with 35 points ahead of Hippolyte Aucouturier and Jean-Baptiste Dortignacq, victory brought him all his prizes, contracts to ride all over France and a bonus from his sponsor. But that night, in a cabin in Paris, he lost the whole lot playing dice with friends. Theres always another Tour to win it again, he is reputed to have said. The one bet that he did win was that the army would forgive him for overstaying his leave and he rode the Tour well again in 1906 but never to the level of the previous year, nevertheless winning stages and finishing third. He became a specialist in long-distance racing, in 1908 winning Bordeaux–Paris 26 minutes ahead of the next rider and he twice came second in the race and once third. He came second in the 1906 Bol dOr 24-hour race at the Vélodrome Buffalo in Paris and he rode a six-day event on the track, although he decided against specialising in what could have been a profitable career. He stopped racing just before World War I and took over the family business, Trousselier had an entertaining personality and a taste for practical jokes. He was known for training with friends and stopping them at the most expensive restaurant they could find